Reaping what we Sow

Kit

I have nothing to say.

Reaping what we Sow Posted Aug 12, 2021 23:07:19 GMT

Quote

    Daisypetals sat with his back to the entrance of the nest, a foolishly vulnerable position for a cat as weak as himself. If his old friend Twistedbranch, StarClan rest him, were still around, Daisypetals would surely have gotten a true earful, as well as a bruised tail. But, for better or worse, that old tomcat was gone, having passed around the same time as Daisypetals's mentor. Alas, it seemed that the medicine cat was somewhat doomed to always choose friends and loved ones who were close to their end. His mate perished hardly a moon after the two of them had joined the clans. His children, all but Curlypaw, did not make it past their third sunrise. His mentor had held on for as long as he could, desperate to give Daisypetals all of the training that he would need in order to be a good and capable medicine cat, but even he succumbed to his fate. Daisypetals could recall the morning that he discovered what had happened. The young medicine cat had awoken late into the morning, which was odd, seeing as Cedarswirl was usually up long before then, and would not allow his apprentice to sleep in like the kitty pet he used to be.
    The fold-eared tomcat stretched and padded out into the main chamber of the medicine cat den, still blinking the sleep from his eyes. That was when he spotted him. Cedarswirl lay in the middle of the den, his head resting on his paws. All around him, herbs were scattered and mixed, as if someone had thrown them like confetti.
    "You have to be kidding me!" Daisypaw groaned. He loved kits, really, he did, but it seemed like they were always getting into the herb stores, undoing hours of hard work. "We're going to have to make some kind of barrier to keep these kits out of the herbs," the fluffy tomcat mewed, already getting to work on redoing all of the work that had been lost. "I mean, what if they found something dangerous! I could never live with myself if....if..." Daisypaw looked back to his mentor, who was still laying in the same position he had been before. It was not unusual for the old tomcat to take a rest while he worked. What was unusual was the fact that not one of the leaves in front of his nose were stirring....and neither was his pelt.
    "Cedarswirl?"
    Daisypaw padded back over to the old tomcat, a worried expression taking over his face. He gently prodded at Cedarswirl's side, trying to rouse him from what Daisypetals was sure was simply an impromptu nap. And yet, the aged tom did not stir. His cold body continued to lay there, unresponsive.
    At this point, Daisypaw's heart began to race. He prodded Cedarswirl harder, no longer caring if he risked the ragged medicine cat's grouchiness. If anything, Daisypaw would have praised StarClan for the sound of Cedarswirl's caterwauling. And yet, no sound came...not even a breath.
    Realization swept over Daisypaw, but he tried to fight it back. No...his mentor couldn't be dead. He still had so much he needed to learn from the old tomcat. There was so much that Cedarswirl had left to teach him! It wasn't right! It wasn't fair! If Cedarswirl was dying, then why hadn't he chosen an apprentice that could have learned more? Or someone who at least understood the ways of the clans? Why had he chosen some broken-hearted kitty pet who hardly knew catmint from yarrow? Someone who hadn't even heard of StarClan?
    Daisypetals shook his head, clearing the memories from his mind. There was still work he had to do. There were herbs to sort, and cats that needed healing. That needed...him. And yet, the question still echoed in his mind. Why did you choose me Cedarswirl?

@kanna
Word Count: 648

Apprentice

Hippity Hoppity coming for your property

Kazuko

Reaping what we Sow Posted Aug 24, 2021 20:49:59 GMT

Quote

ginger

"Stupid fox-hearted thornbush!" Crimsonpaw padded - well, limped - into camp, holding his front right leg aloft. It wasn't too hard to see why. The entire limb was covered in bristles and thorns, with several big ones sticking into his paw pad. He had been hunting, but this accident totally wasn't his fault! The stupid vole had darted away too fast, and it made him miss! It should have just stayed still and then Crimsonpaw just knew he would have killed it. The vole robbed him and left him with a mark to remember!

Huffing, Crimsonpaw ignored the looks of other clanmates around him, giving an ungrateful roll of his eyes as he traipsed off to the medicine cat den. The tom still occasionally wondered what would have happened had he elected to stay in the den, though it was never truly an option. Daisypetals was young, and honestly? It looked so borin!

"Daisypetalsssss..." Crimsonpaw yowled loudly as he entered the den, not caring whether he was disturbing anything, "I need something for my leg! Some thorns attacked me, the fox-hearted idiots."

Ebonyrose (she/her) - OakClan Leader
Leafheart (he/him) - NightClan Warrior
Spiderspirit (she/her) - DawnClan Warrior
Oliver (he/they) - Kittypet

Kit

I have nothing to say.

ginger

Reaping what we Sow Posted Aug 24, 2021 22:10:44 GMT

Quote

Daisypetals briefly pricked his ears-as much as a cat such as him could prick his ears-at the sound of a loud voice from outside his den. In all honesty, he supposed that he should have gone out to meet his wailing patient, if for no other reason than to save the eardrums of the rest of his clan mates. But at the same time, Daisypetals had found that there were a good many cats who did not exactly take kindly to being sheparded into the medicine den, even when it was where they needed to go. Yes, some cats were only willing to be treated if someone other than him; someone they cared about, or who cared about them, or even another authority, forced them into it. Or, better yet, they could simply come visit him of their own accord. It would be nice if not every visit had to be marked by an illness or injury though. Imagine that, cats just coming to...talk. That would be the day.
"Daisypetalsssss..."
Alas, that day may be coming, but it had not yet arrived. Sighing to himself, Daisypetals calmly shuffled away the pile of herbs he had been sorting, and turned to look at his new patient.
"Crimsonpaw," the tomcat mewed, "How could I have guessed?"
In truth, the answer was simple. Daisypetals had tried his best to learn most of his clanmates voices, so as not to be too startled when they inevitably popped in on him at all hours of day and night. The secondary reason, the one that Daisypetals wondered if Crimsonpaw was very aware of, was that Daisypetals always seemed to be patching up some apprentice or another. And, nine times out of ten, it was someone like Crimsonpaw, who could have totally avoided his fate if he had not been so....well, so apprentice-aged.
"I need something for my leg! Some thorns attacked me, the fox-hearted idiots."
Daisypetals glanced down at the leg in question, doing his best not to look amused when the young tomcat condemned his spikey, and entirely non-sentient, attacker.
"Perhaps our leader had better send patrols to drive the 'fox-hearted idiots' out of our territory," the fluffy medicine cat said, bending his head to sniff quickly at Crimsonpaw's leg. Thankfully, the apprentice had enough sense to come straight to him, rather than trying to walk around with thorns sticking out of them, or allowing the wounds to get infected by all The Who-knows-what that existed within the muddy floors of their territory. Daisypetals motioned for Crimsonpaw to sit before he began to pull the brambles and thorns out of the younger tomcat's leg, hurriedly licking at some of the red blossoms of blood which welled up upon their removal.
"Care to tell me why you were fighting such a dangerous enemy?" Daisypetals sat back for a moment, giving his young patient a little bit of a break in between pullings. Even though Daisypetals did not care too much for the youngster, as he still had many bad memories of how Crimsonkit had all but destroyed the medicine cat den, that did not change the fact that Crimsonpaw was still his patient. And, to be completely honest, Daisypetals could not help but have a soft-spot for youths, even the troublesome ones.

Kazuko

Apprentice

Hippity Hoppity coming for your property

Kazuko

Reaping what we Sow Posted Sept 15, 2021 20:49:05 GMT

Quote

ginger

"Hey, I didn't walk into the thorns on purpose, you know!" Crimsonpaw protested, huffing slightly. Everytime Daisypetal removed a large thorn, the tom winced, though it surprisingly hadn't hurt as much as he had anticipated, "No, I was chasing this shrew, and it ran underneath them, and I would've caught it! I was this close!" The tom put emphasis on the word this, though he was unable to show it well, given he was still balancing on just one front leg, the other unable to be used.

"I already pulled some out of my other leg, but figured you would want to look anyway, in case I messed it up, but I'm pretty sure I did it fine!" The apprentice admitted, glancing away, his eyes scouring the medicine cat den, "It's really dusty in here, you know, you need to get it cleaned at some point... nothing's infected, right? I can't see any marigold here - but honestly, if it got infected that quickly, then I'd dare say the thorns won." The tom chuckled quietly at his own joke.

Last Edit: Sept 15, 2021 20:50:14 GMT by Kazuko

Ebonyrose (she/her) - OakClan Leader
Leafheart (he/him) - NightClan Warrior
Spiderspirit (she/her) - DawnClan Warrior
Oliver (he/they) - Kittypet

Kit

I have nothing to say.

ginger

Reaping what we Sow Posted Sept 22, 2021 14:55:52 GMT

Quote

    Daisypetals nodded, though he could not help but chuckle a bit at how quickly Crimsonpaw had jumped to defend himself from Daisypetals's teasing. Perhaps some would accuse him of being cruel, but Daisypetals could not help but find it somewhat amusing how easily he could get a rise out of the younger tomcat. In many ways, Daisypetals could even admire Crimsonpaw for his sharp tongue.
    "No, I was chasing this shrew, and it ran underneath them, and I would've caught it! I was this close!"
The medicine cat nodded again, this time sure to show Crimsonpaw just how impressed he was. Although Daisypetals was not a hunter himself, and never managed to catch more than the occasional mouse or an unusually slow frog, he still made an effort to appreciate the work of warriors. For all he knew, shrews could have been easy catches, and Crimsonpaw could be bragging over absolutely nothing. And yet, that idea seemed foolish. Crimsonpaw had always made it obvious to Daisypetals that he cared little about what the medicine cat thought, so why would he go through the effort of putting together a falsehood for Daisypetals to be impressed over?
"So," Daisypetals mewed, still smiling a bit, "the thorns had an accomplice."
Although the medicine cat quickly turned back to plucking the last couple of thorns from Crimsonpaw's leg, his eyes flicked up to the apprentice's face a few times, eager to see what kind of reaction he was getting. Truthfully, Daisypetals said these things for more reason than to simply get a rise out of the proud apprentice. Through his teasing, Daisypetals tested the waters of Crimsonpaw's defenses. He knew that the apprentice was a proud cat, as had been evidenced many times by his bragging. And, secretly, Daisypetals could not help but admire the fire within the younger tomcat's heart. Crimsonpaw was not the sort who would back down from a challenge, so that was exactly what Daisypetals tried to give him.
""I already pulled some out of my other leg, but figured you would want to look anyway, in case I messed it up, but I'm pretty sure I did it fine!"
  Immediately, Daisypetals mind jumped to the worst. He had dealt with a few warriors who claimed they had 'pulled out all the thorns' or 'didn't need treatment'. They were hardly ever correct. And yet, when Daisypetals sniffed at Crimsonpaw's other leg, he found that the apprentice had been speaking true. Although he could see a few little pinpricks of blood from where the thorns had embedded themselves, the area looked to have been cleaned surprisingly well.
Huh, Daisypetals thought, perhaps the kid does know a thing or two.
"It's really dusty in here, you know, you need to get it cleaned at some point... nothing's infected, right? I can't see any marigold here."
Daisypetals blinked, his face blank as thought after thought flitted through his mind. At first, he jumped to the idea that crimson paw was simply trying to be insulting, claiming that the tomcat did not tidy the den properly. And yet...looking around, Daisypetals had to admit that Crimsonpaw was actually not very far off. Pollen and dust drifted through the air of the medicine cat den, and seemed to settle on just about every surface they could find. And as for the lack of marigold...Daisypetals glanced over his shoulder. Mousedung! Crimsonpaw was right again. And finally,
    "Honestly, if it got infected that quickly, then I'd dare say the thorns won."
The medicine cat looked up at Crimsonpaw in mild surprise. The apprentice was actually joining in on his little joke! In all the things Daisypetals had imagined, he never would have guessed that he would get that sort of a reaction from the youth which he had, perhaps wrongfully, labeled as a troublemaker and a grump.
"The thorns put up a good fight," Daisypetals mewed finally, breaking out of his stunned silence. "And that was a tricky move they pulled, allying with the shrew. But I think you will survive to fight another day."
Daisypetals gave the tomcat's wounds an extra lick for good measure, then sat back, admiring his work. Then, he glanced back up to the ginger furred tom, and gave him a respectful nod. Perhaps he had misjudged the youngster. Perhaps Crimsonpaw was not so bad after all.

@kanna
OOC: what's this? Daisypetals discovers people can grow up?!

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